Progressive Talking Points 2/7/06

Budget Pains

When President Bush delivered his State of the Union Address, he made commitments to health care, education and innovation. However, as in years past, his 2007 $2.77 trillion budget request, released yesterday, shows that his address was more talk and less action. Bush’s budget favors the interests of the wealthy and connected and puts at risk the interests of those who most need the government’s help. Even Bush’s traditional allies aren’t thrilled with the bill. Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH), chairman of the Budget Committee, said, "There are some programs in there I have heartburn about." If the President was serious during the State of the Union, he would have submitted an entirely different budget.

• The President’s cuts to health care will hurt the most vulnerable. In the State of the Union, Bush said that the government has a “responsibility to help provide health care for the poor and the elderly.” However, the number of Americans without health insurance increased by 6.2 million under Bush, and his 2007 budget cuts $36 billion from Medicare over the next five years and at least $13.8 billion from Medicaid. Millions of Americans rely on these programs to help pay for their health care needs – particularly the elderly, low-income and working families and individuals with disabilities.
  
  
• The President’s budget leaves millions of children behind. President Bush always talks about how important education is to the future of our country, and he’s right. But his 2007 budget cuts Department of Education funding by $2.1 billion. Bush backed away from his promise to increase the maximum Pell Grant amount, which provides funding for low-income students to meet the skyrocketing costs of higher education. And the new education initiatives he proposed are offset by the continued underfunding of No Child Left Behind.
  
  
• The President’s budget hurts America’s competitiveness. Last week, Bush said innovation and global competitiveness were going to be hallmarks of his new agenda. This week, Bush’s budget revealed that the science and technology budget will be cut by $594 million and the National Institutes of Health – "the nation's lead agency in the hunt for the causes, treatments and ways to prevent diseases" – will get no new funding, which is actually a cut in funding when you account for inflation.